Fuel door actuator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10113339-B2
Application number	US-201514705330-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 6, 2015
Priority date	May 6, 2015
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

The invention concerns an Actuator for a fuel tank cap (1) or tailboard in a vehicle comprising a latch (2) for locking the fuel tank cap (1) or tailboard as well as an electric drive (3) to enable an automatic opening and closing cycle of the fuel tank cap or tailboard, wherein a rotatable control plate (4) with a control contour for transmitting a force and/or motion by means of a preferably direct contact to at least one adjacent member is designed such that the transmission of force and/or motion depends on the rotation position of the control plate (4). A compact actuator can be obtained. The invention further concerns a method for actuation the fuel tank cap (1) or tailboard, wherein firstly, a latch release cable (10) is pulled in order to unlock the latch (2), secondly, a rotation motion is transmitted in order to open the fuel tank cap (1) or tailboard, thirdly, the latch release cable (10) is released until the closing step is initiated, and/or fourthly, the cycle comprising the first, second, third, and/or forth sequence runs in reverse order and direction for automatically closing the fuel tank cap (1) or tailboard. A very easy automatic opening and closing cycle can be obtained.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An actuator for a fuel tank cap in a vehicle comprising:
a latch for locking the fuel tank cap;
an electric drive to enable an automatic opening and closing cycle of the fuel tank cap;
a control plate rotatable by the electric drive and having a control contour;
a torque plate having a torque contour that interacts with the control contour by direct contact for transmitting a force and motion to the torque plate, wherein the transmission of force and motion depends on a rotation position of the control plate; and
a mating plate having a mating contour that interacts with the control contour by direct contact, whereby the torque plate transmits the force and motion from the control plate to the mating plate,
wherein the control plate, the torque plate and the mating plate are arranged along a longitudinal axis of rotation of the electric drive or the fuel tank cap.

2. The actuator of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the control plate, the torque plate and the mating plate have a disk shape.

3. The actuator of claim 1 , wherein the torque plate is arranged in between the control plate and the mating plate along an axis of rotation of the control plate.

4. The actuator of claim 1 , wherein
the control contour comprises two ramps two cams and a web that are curved along or in parallel to a part of a circumference of the control contour,
the mating contour of the mating plate comprises a ramp that is curved along or in parallel to a part of the circumference, and
the torque contour of the torque plate comprises two cams.

5. The actuator of claim 1 , wherein
the control contour comprises a ramp having a radian measure between 15° and 360°, and
the mating contour of the mating plate comprises a ramp having a radian measure between 30° and 360°.

6. Actuator of claim 1 , wherein the control contour comprises two cams which are arranged closer to an axis or rotation of the control plate than at least one of a ramp and a web.

7. The actuator of claim 1 , wherein
the control contour is arranged on a side of a control base plate that is facing the mating plate and opposing a side of the control base plate that faces a housing of the electric drive, and
the torque contour of the torque plate is arranged on a side of a torque base plate that is facing the control plate and opposes the mating plate.

8. The actuator of claim 1 , wherein the torque plate comprises a centered torque shaft which is aligned with an axis of rotation of the control plate.

9. The actuator of claim 1 , wherein the torque plate comprises a centered torque shaft having a not rotation-symmetric cross sectional contour that is round shaped with a two edges coupling for enabling a rotational form fit connection to the fuel tank cap.

10. The actuator of claim 1 , wherein a torque shaft of a torque plate extents through a hole of the mating plate.

11. The actuator of claim 1 , wherein during at least one of a closing or a opening cycle of the fuel tank cap,
at least one of the control plate and the torque plate can rotate around an axis,
the mating plate is non-rotatable during the closing or the opening cycle of the fuel tank cap,
a ramp of the mating plate is slideable up, down or along a ramp of the control plate, and
at least one cam of the control plate can push a cam of the torque plate.

12. The actuator of claim 1 , further comprising a cable lever which is v-shaped, and which is on one side rotatably mounted at a housing of the electric drive and at another side comprises a latch release cable interface for mounting a latch release cable of a Bowden cable for locking and unlocking the latch.

13. The actuator of claim 12 , further comprising a housing arm of the housing for mounting the cable lever, wherein the housing arm extends in parallel to an axis of rotation of the control plate and is arranged at a lateral area of the housing.

14. The actuator of claim 12 , wherein the cable lever comprises a v-edge which is arranged in a center area of the cable lever and is closer to the latch release cable interface than an axis of the cable lever.

15. The actuator of claim 12 , wherein the cable lever comprises an oblong hole that is near a centered area of the cable lever.

16. The actuator of claim 12 , wherein the cable lever is supported on the mating plate by direct contact between a v-edge of the cable lever and the mating plate on an opposed side to the control plate.

17. The actuator of claim 12 , wherein the cable lever preloaded through the attached latch release cable such that the cable lever presses on the mating plate pressed on the control plate for facilitating transmission of force and motion.

18. The actuator of claim 1 , wherein rotational motion of the electric drive is converted into a linear motion for unlocking the latch of the fuel tank cap or and a rotational motion for the automatic opening and closing cycle, wherein the linear motion and the rotational motion follow a predefined time sequence depending on the rotation position of the control plate.

Assignees

• Kiekert Ag

Inventors

• Wagner Adrin

Classifications

• B60K2015/0538

  with open or close mechanism automatically actuated · CPC title

• F16H25/125

  having the cam on an end surface of the rotating element · CPC title

• B60K2015/053

  with hinged connection to the vehicle body · CPC title

• E05B81/25 Primary

  Actuators mounted separately from the lock and controlling the lock functions through mechanical connections · CPC title

• B60K2015/0576

  with actuator fixed to the vehicle body · CPC title